 This Old Ice is Fresh (Water) Since glacial ice is formed from falling snow... and snow results from condensed water vapor in the atmosphere... and icebergs are pieces of glaciers that have broken off and are floating in the water... the water from icebergs is quite pure. Icebergs are therefore frozen "freshwater" - unlike the sea (salt) water that they float around in - and freshwater is safe to drink. Recently, the idea of towing icebergs to countries that need fresh water has attracted attention. A company in Alaska has already harvested icebergs floating in Alaskan waters and sold the ice to a firm in Japan as a novelty. In some places, you can also buy bottled iceberg water as a way to drink very pure water. And did you know that glacial ice can be more than 150,000 years old, or that iceberg ice cubes may pop or hiss in a drink as they let out gasses that have been trapped and compressed - likely for thousands of years? How would that be in your party drinks?
Click pictures for more information and credits. Library: Arctic, Ice, Icebergs, Glaciers Links: Arctic, Icebergs, Glaciers Source of Icebergs Arctic Maps & Weather Reports |
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DICTIONARY: Just "double-click" any unlinked word on this page for the definition from Merriam-Webster's Student Electronic Dictionary at Word Central. |
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ARCTIC LIBRARY & GLOSSARY: Check this section for an index of the rest of the things you really need to know about the Arctic. |
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ARCTIC MAPS & WEATHER REPORTS: Maps of the Northwest Passage, explorers' routes, iceberg sources, Nunavut, the Arctic by treeline, temperature... |
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ARCTIC LINKS: Even more information! Links to sites related to the Arctic and "Iceberg: the Story of the Throps and the Squallhoots". |
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GUIDE TO ARCTIC SUNRISE & SUNSET: How much sunlight or darkness is there in the Arctic on each day of the year? |
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